14th August 2005-The most meaningful day of my life

I had no idea. I actually only found out yesterday, or early morning today, whichever you prefer, lol.. Was having supper after union square when Kai Min mentioned she had to wake up early. I asked why and found out she was going to visit a children's home.

Thought about it for a moment, then I asked if I could tag along, reasons being, 1) I love kids, and 2) It was a much more meaningful way of spending a Sunday morning, even though I would love my sleep.

Turns out it was an EXCELLENT choice!

The kids were fantastic, bouncy and happy, most of them. It took all our energy to keep up with them! Most of them had fantastic artistic talent too!

The programme was 1) Musical Chairs
2) Drawing Competition
3) Balloon Event (It was an impromptu thing when Li Wen(sorry if i mispelled) found out I do balloons, haha)

Musical chairs was quite the disaster though, because of the nature of the game, someone is eliminated each round. It had never occurred to us that these kids would be sensitive to loss. A kid pulled me aside as he voluntarily left the game. When I asked him why, he told me he didnt like to lose. Then I realised what a mistake we made. This was a lesson I learnt today.

Thankfully, Li Wen's quick thinking saved the day as we slid immediately into the Drawing Event!

The Drawing Event was much of a success, most of the children were engaged with crayons and a free flow of drawing bloc. It was amazing to see all of the artwork produced by these young prodigies. Some wonderful pieces came out, skillfuly drawn. It just amazed me.

All hell broke loose when the 1st balloon came out! Every kid wanted a balloon, so after 5 minutes of trying to twist balloons, I just thought better of it and decided to just pump out balloons for the kids, it worked after most of the kids had balloons, then they just ran around playing! It was so interesting to watch!

I had so much fun with these children, talking to them, playing with them. It amazing how much you can benefit from an experience like this. At the end of the day, all of the 8 of us were totally worn out. One guy commented that it felt like a whole day event, even though it was only 3 hours... I so totally agreed with him, haha!

Thanks alot Kai Min for giving me this opportunity to visit this really special place!